Stuttgart Airport (German: ''Flughafen Stuttgart'', formerly ''Flughafen Stuttgart-Echterdingen'') is the

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, the capital of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. It is christened in honor of Stuttgart's former mayor,

Manfred Rommel Manfred Rommel (24 December 1928 – 7 November 2013) was a German politician belonging to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who served as mayor of Stuttgart from 1974 until 1996. Rommel's policies were described as tolerant and liberal, an ...

, son of

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...

, and is the sixth busiest airport in Germany with 11,832,634 passengers having passed through its doors in 2018. The airport is operated by Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH (FSG). It goes back to Luftverkehr Württemberg AG, which was founded in 1924 and initially operated Böblingen Airport. Since 2008, 65% of the operating company is owned by the state of Baden-Württemberg and 35% by the city of Stuttgart. It is located approximately ( in a straight line) south of Stuttgart and lies on the boundary between the nearby town of

Leinfelden-Echterdingen Leinfelden-Echterdingen (Swabian: ''Laefälda-Ächdordeng'') is a town in the district of Esslingen, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located approximately 10 km south of Stuttgart, near the Stuttgart Airport and directly adjacent to t ...

Filderstadt Filderstadt (; Swabian: ''Fildorsdadd'') is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located approximately 13 km south of Stuttgart. Filderstadt is located next to the Stuttgart Airport and t ...

and Stuttgart itself. In 2007, the Stuttgart Trade Fair – the ninth biggest

exhibition centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

in Germany – moved to grounds directly next to the airport. Additionally, the global headquarters for

car park A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...

ing company

APCOA Parking APCOA Parking AG is Europe's longest-established full service parking management company.

are located here.

History

First years and World War II

The airport was built in 1939 to replace Böblingen Airport. In 1945, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

took over the airport until returning it to German authorities in 1948. For the duration of the Cold War the runway and facilities were shared with the United States Army who operated helicopters, the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk and other fixed wing aircraft as ''Echterdingen Army Airfield'' on the southern portion of the airfield. Some of the units operating at Echterdingen were headquartered at nearby

Nellingen Kaserne Nellingen Kaserne was a U.S. Army airfield and barracks near Stuttgart in the town of Ostfildern in Germany. History The site was selected in the 1930s as the site for a new airport for Stuttgart but was instead developed as a military airfield nam ...

- now closed and redeveloped. In 1984–5, the 223rd Aviation Battalion (Combat) of the 11th Aviation Group (Combat) was headquartered at Echterdingen, with three aviation companies assigned (one at

Schwäbisch Hall Schwäbisch Hall (; "Swabian Hall"; from 1802 until 1934 and colloquially: ''Hall'' ) is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg located in the valley of the Kocher river, the longest tributary (together with its headwater Lein) of the ...

). The U.S. Army still maintains a small helicopter base - ''Stuttgart Army Airfield'' - on the southern side of the airport, which it shares with the Baden-Württemberg State Police helicopter wing. The police helicopter wing falls under the control of Stuttgart Police Department and has six modern helicopters based at Stuttgart and two in

Söllingen Söllingen is a municipality in the district of Helmstedt, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The Municipality Söllingen includes the villages of Dobbeln, Söllingen and Wobeck. And since 1 November 2016, the former municipalities Ingeleben and Twiefli ...

Later development

The airport was expanded after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The runway was extended to in 1948, then to in 1961 and finally to in 1996. Renovation was scheduled for 2020, full closure phase was preponed to be completed in April during the

corona lockdown Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countrie ...

. The original 1938 terminal was finally replaced in 2004 and there are now four terminals with a maximum capacity of approximately 12 million passengers. Politicians, town planners and nearby residents have been arguing for years about the construction of a second runway. However, on 25 June 2008 Minister-President

Günther Oettinger Günther Hermann Oettinger (born 15 October 1953) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources from 2017 to 2019, as European Commissioner for Digit ...

announced that for the next 8–12 years no second runway will be built and that the restrictions for night operations stay in place. After the death of former mayor

in November 2013 local politicians proposed renaming the airport after him. This proposal caused public disputes as he was the son of

but also highly respected for his work on intercultural affairs. In July 2014 it has been announced that the airport will be named ''Flughafen Stuttgart - Manfred Rommel Flughafen'' from now on. In September 2016, the airport unveiled new branding and corporate design, changing its official name from ''Flughafen Stuttgart'' to ''Stuttgart Airport''. In September 2014,

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

cancelled their route to Stuttgart from

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

due to insufficient demand leaving Stuttgart Airport with only one remaining long-haul connection to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

provided by

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

. In October 2014,

easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...

announced they would serve Stuttgart as their seventh German destination by March 2015. In December 2014,

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

also added Stuttgart as a destination in their network with six weekly flights to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

from April 2015.

Air Berlin Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was h ...

announced the start of a service to

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

from December 2014. On 31 May 2016,

ceased its flights to

.airberlingroup.com - airberlin withdraws from Stuttgart - Abu Dhabi route
18 March 2016 In October 2016,

announced it would close its maintenance facilities at the airport due to cost cutting and restructuring measures.rbb-online.de - "Air Berlin wants to cancel nearly 500 staff nationwide"
(German) 14 October 2016 In July 2020, Lauda announced the closure of their base at Stuttgart Airport — which has been operated as a

wetlease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempora ...

for

— by October 2020. Prior to this announcement, the base staff rejected a new labour agreement. In October 2021,

terminated their service to

after being suspended since 2020 and nearly 35 years of service, leaving the airport without any scheduled long-haul operations. However this route is planned to resume in March 2023 after a three-year hiatus.

Terminals

Stuttgart Airport consists of four passenger terminals which have separate check-in facilities and entrances but are directly connected to each other and share a single airside area which features eight

Jet bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

s as well as about two dozen bus-boarding stands. * Terminal 1 is the first of two landside main halls and features together with its addition Terminal 1-West 50 check-in counters. It shares the roof with Terminals 2 and 3 and is mainly used by

Eurowings Eurowings GmbH is a German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and formerly also operated some long-hau ...

and Turkish Airlines. * Terminal 2 is a small area featuring nine check-in counters and a security checkpoint. It is located within the shopping area between the main halls of Terminals 1 and 3. It is used by

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

Star Alliance Star Alliance is the world's largest global airline alliance. Founded on 14 May 1997, its CEO is Jeffrey Goh and its headquarters is located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. , Star Alliance is the largest of the three global alliances by passenge ...

partners in addition to their counters in Terminal 1. * Terminal 3 is the second of the two landside main halls east of Terminal 1 and 2 and features 39 additional check-in counters. It is used by

TUIfly TUI fly Deutschland, formerly ''TUIfly'', is a German leisure airline owned by the travel and tourism company TUI Group. It is headquartered at Hannover Airport with bases at several other German airports. TUI fly Deutschland is part of TUI Gr ...

and

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

among several other airlines. * Terminal 4 is, unlike the other three terminals, a separate and very basic equipped building to the east of Terminals 1 to 3 but also connected to them by a walk way. It features 17 more check-in counters as well as several bus-boarding gates and is used mostly for holiday charter operations. In March 2018, the airport administration announced that Terminal 4 will be entirely rebuilt and expanded in the coming years.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at Stuttgart Airport:

Cargo

Statistics

Passengers and movements

Largest airlines

Busiest routes

Ground transportation

Car

There are two major highways: Just north of the airport runs the Bundesautobahn 8 (A8), which connects the cities of Karlsruhe and Stuttgart to Ulm, Augsburg and Munich. The

Bundesstraße 27 Bundesstraße 27 or B27 is a German federal road. It connects Blankenburg am Harz with Rafz in Switzerland. Route The Bundesstraße 27 crosses the following states and towns (north to south): * Saxony-Anhalt: Blankenburg am Harz * Lower ...

(B27) leads to downtown Stuttgart, as well as to Tübingen and Reutlingen in the South.

Coach

From the regional cities of

Esslingen am Neckar Esslingen am Neckar ( Swabian: ''Esslenga am Neckor'') is a town in the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany, seat of the District of Esslingen as well as the largest town in the district. Within Baden-Württemberg it is t ...

Reutlingen Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818. Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...

and Kirchheim exists a connection by coach. Additionally, German long-distance coach operators ''DeinBus'' and Flixbus maintain their stop for Stuttgart on the airport grounds with direct connections to several major cities.

Suburban railway

Stuttgart Airport can be easily reached within 30 minutes from the city's

main railway station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

using the Stuttgart suburban railway S2 or S3 from Stuttgart Flughafen/Messe station.

Future long-distance railway

It is planned to connect the airport with the future Stuttgart - Ulm high-speed railway line currently under construction as part of the major Stuttgart 21 railway redevelopment program. Therefore, a new long-distance train station will be built on the airport's grounds near the existing suburban railway station. The new station, which will be served by ''ICE'' high-speed trains will be connected to the new line by an underground loop track. The Stuttgart-Ulm line is scheduled to be opened in 2020 while the new airport connection is planned to be inaugurated in 2022.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de - "Airport station finished by 2022"
1 August 2012

Accidents and incidents

* On 19 January 2010,

Bin Air BinAir Aero Service Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH is a Germany, German charter airline headquartered in Munich and based out of Essen/Mülheim Airport specializing in ad hoc freight services across Europe. History The airline wa ...

Swearingen SA-227-C Metro D-CKPP was damaged when the right main undercarriage collapsed on landing.

References

External links

Official website
* *

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Stuttgart Transport in Stuttgart Gerkan, Marg and Partners buildings Airports in Baden-Württemberg